Senior Programme Officer Mental Health Initiative (BEING) at The Science for Africa Foundation

Principal Duties & Responsibilities
Delivering the Science Research & Innovations Strategy

• Perform programme-relevant research to inform the development, implementation and delivery of the projects falling within the portfolio.
• Work closely with the M&E team to identify, collate, track, assess quality, analyse and validate, and report on programme-related data.
• Identify and build relationships with relevant stakeholders. 
• This may include universities and academic institutions, relevant African government departments and policymakers, Africa-based and international think tanks, and intergovernmental organisations etc.
• Prepare reports, articles and presentations during programme inception meetings, annual grantee meetings and site visits. 
• Track and perform relevant analysis (data-driven approaches) on various aspects of programme implementation to identify and address important challenges to ensure effective and efficient programme delivery.

Programme Support & Liaison

• Represent SFA Foundation programmes at internal and external meetings when required.
• Work closely with SFA Foundation communications team to develop a media and campaign strategy for projects within the portfolio to ensure maximum exposure and coverage on the continent and beyond and to generate keen interest from potential stakeholders.
• Plan and organise relevant workshops and other activities in furtherance of the objectives of the projects within the portfolio.
• Develop a risk management framework for the programme, including developing and maintaining a risk register for the programme and a system to document, track and ensure programme issues and challenges are resolved in a timely manner.
• Support other SFA Foundation programmes and departments in the delivery of their mandate, especially for cross-cutting programmatic activities when requested.
• Preparing consolidated technical and financial reports from grantees. This involves reviewing reporting templates, liaising with grantees and M&E teams during reporting periods to support their reporting needs, consolidating the reports for internal use and for sharing with relevant funders, and data mining from reports to prepare outcomes and impact reports. 
• Project-specific promotion and marketing, including social media, website page management and/or article writing, working in collaboration with the SFA Foundation communications team.

Person Specifications

• An MSc and/or PhD degree in a recognised Mental Health discipline obtained over the past 5 years; or an MD (Psychiatry, Psychologists, GP with experience working with mental health patients etc), or equivalent training with proven research leadership qualities and experience; and project management skills and experience.

Qualifications and Experience

• A proven record of research capabilities in mental health research as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications and other quality outputs. 
• At least 5 years of experience working in research/research leadership capacity development, programme design and implementation on the African continent. 
• A professional qualification and relevant experience in large-scale programme/project management or training in research administration, ethics, leadership or related will be an added advantage